Category: Interview

54. [Interview] Gabriel Bergmoser talks about The Hunted, adapting his book into a major movie, and how to write gripping stories

~ Jed Herne ~ Leave a comment

Gabriel Bergmoser and I sat down to discuss The Hunted (his latest thriller novel) in depth. This is the third time I’ve interviewed him, and somehow he keeps getting better. The Hunted is my favourite book of his and it was enthralling to dive into the mind of its creator. This episode is available in podcast and video form. Enjoy!   

Podcast:

Introducing: Wizards, Warriors, & Words – my new fantasy writing advice podcast! – The Novel Analyst Podcast: Creative Writing Advice & Author Interviews

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify

Video (Split into 2 Parts):

Show Notes:

Buy The Hunted here:  https://www.gabrielbergmoser.com/novels.html  

@gobergmoser 

www.gabrielbergmoser.com  

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Let me know what you thought on twitter: 

@jedherne  

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And if you’d like to try my own books, check out Fires of the Dead – a fast-paced fantasy novella, perfect for fans of The Hunted: https://jedherne.com/firesofthedead/

53. [Interview] Rob J. Hayes – Writing a Fantasy Trilogy, Overcoming Doubts, and The War Eternal

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I chat with Rob for the second time to discuss his latest grimdark fantasy trilogy, The War Eternal. The trilogy follows Eska, a young magician struggling to reconcile her urges for revenge with her longing for human connection. The books include:

  1. Along the Razor’s Edge
  2. The Lessons Never Learned
  3. From Cold Ashes Risen

We also talk about overcoming doubts, Rob’s techniques for building captivating fantasy worlds, and which of his characters he’d share isolation with. Enjoy!

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify

Or click here to listen online.

Show Notes:

My BookNest review of The Lessons Never Learned: https://bit.ly/jedreviews

Rob’s twitter: @RoboftheHayes

Rob’s facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheHeresyWithin

Rob’s blog: http://www.robjhayes.co.uk/

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My twitter: @JedHerne

52. [Interview] S. Andrew Swann – Writing The Sword of the Slayer & lessons learned from publishing 26 fantasy and sci-fi books

~ Jed Herne ~ Leave a comment

S. Andrew Swann is the pen name of Steven Swiniarski. He has published over 26 novels since 1993. His recent works include Sword of the Slayer – an interactive fiction story from Choice of Games.

Watch our video interview below, or click the links to listen in your podcast player of your choice.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify

Or click here to listen online.

Show Notes:

Steven’s website: sandrewswann.com

Twitter: @SAndrewSwann

Facebook: facebook.com/sandrewswann

Sword of the Slayer: choiceofgames.com/sword-of-the-slayer

Steven’s favorite books:

– American Gods

– Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files

– Peter F. Hamilton’s books

– Hyperion

– The Fireman by Joe Hill

49. [Interview] Kate Heartfield – Interactive Fiction and The Magician's Workshop

~ Jed Herne ~ 1 Comment

What does it take to write stories where readers’ decisions affect the outcome? Kate Heartfield is an author of several historical fantasy and interactive fiction stories, including The Road to Canterbury, and The Magician’s Workshop, published by Choice of Games. Her fiction has won or been shortlisted for the Nebula, Locus, Aurora and Crawford awards.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify

Or click here to listen online.

Twitter: @kateheartfield

Website: heartfieldfiction.com

Show Notes:

The Magician’s Workshop – her interactive fiction story set in Renaissance Florence.

Jed’s twitter: @jedherne

Jed’s email: jed.herne1(at)gmail.com

47. [Interview] Rob J. Hayes on Viking Martial Arts, Achieving Success as a Self-Published Fantasy Author, and Turning Messy Drafts into Great Stories

~ Jed Herne ~ Leave a comment

Rob J. Hayes is the author of the Amazon Best Selling The Heresy Within, the SPFBO-winning piratical swashbuckler Where Loyalties Lie, and the critically acclaimed Never Die, amongst many other novels. After doing an episode on Never Die two weeks ago, I’m delighted to follow it up with an interview with the author himself!

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify

Or click here to listen online.

Website: www.robjhayes.co.uk

Twitter: @RoboftheHayes

Show Notes:

My grimdark fantasy novella, Fires of the Dead, just became the #1 bestseller on Amazon’s ‘Fantasy Adventure Fiction’, ‘Sword & Sorcery’, and various other charts. Read it here: https://jedherne.com/firesofthedead 

My Novel Analyst episode 46 on Never Die by Rob J. Hayes: https://anchor.fm/novelanalyst/episodes/46–Never-Die-by-Rob-J–Hayes—Choreographing-Excellent-Ensemble-Casts-easrko 

Novel Analyst episode 41 on The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding: https://anchor.fm/novelanalyst/episodes/41–The-Ember-Blade-by-Chris-Wooding—Nailing-the-Opening-48-Pages-e96cua

43. [Interview] Justin Call – Author of Master of Sorrows – board games, fantasy, and the creative life

~ Jed Herne ~ 1 Comment

Justin Call graduated from Harvard University in 2012 with a Master’s in Literature and Creative Writing. He has studied fantasy literature for almost two decades and is the author of Master of Sorrows, Book 1 of The Silent Gods tetralogy. Justin is also the CEO of Broomstick Monkey Games and co-designer of the games Imperial Harvest, Royal Strawberries, Royal Scum, and 8 Kingdoms. He currently lives in Park City, Utah with his wife, his two sons, his Great Dane (Pippa) and his St. Bernard-Mastiff (Herbie).

In this interview, we dive deep into his creative process, explore how designing board games has helped his world building, and discuss how he’s writing one of the most challenging and subversive fantasy series of this decade.

Enjoy!

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify

Or click here to listen online.



Show Notes:

https://justintcall.com/

@Justin_T_Call (twitter)

Justin’s top writing-advice books/resources:


– Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

– The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell

– The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

– The Writing Excuses podcast

– 101 Habits of Highly Effective Writers

– 101 Habits of Highly Effective Screenwriters

Justin’s top books/authors:

– ‘Crowfall’ by Ed McDonald

– Book of the Ancestor Series by Mark Lawrence

– Anything by Brandon Sanderson (I second this suggestion). 

My notes:

Half-Baked Stories podcast

@jedherne (Twitter, Instagram)

jedherne.com

36 – [Interview] Gareth Hanrahan: World Building, Writing Advice, and Creating a Successful Writing Career

~ Jed Herne ~ 2 Comments

Stoked to interview Gareth Hanrahan, author of The Gutter Prayer – which I analysed on the show just a few days ago. We had an excellent in-depth chat about his book, how writing for role-playing games has helped him as an author, and lots more. Enjoy!

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Or click here to listen online

Show Notes:

Gareth’s influential books:


DECLARE, Tim Powers

Lavondyss, Robert Holdstock

Deep Work, by Cal Newport

Hyperfocus, Chris Bailey (more accessible version of Deep Work)

Hamlet’s Hit Points, Robin D Laws

Storyteller Tools, M. Harold Page

House of Leaves 

Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer

My debut fantasy novella, Fires of the Dead, comes out tomorrow! (Sep 20th, 2019). Read it here: https://jedherne.com/firesofthedead

Questions, comments, queries? I love hearing from you! I respond to every email sent to: jed.herne1@gmail.com

32 – Gabriel Bergmoser Interview – lessons learnt from book deals, movie deals, and becoming a full-time writer

~ Jed Herne ~ 1 Comment

Gabriel Bergmoser is a Melbourne based author and playwright.  He’s written the Boone Shepard trilogy (I analysed book 3 in this episode of the podcast) along with multiple plays. His latest novel is The Hunted (aka Sunburnt Country in the UK), which comes out in mid-2020 from HarperCollins. 

It was a pleasure to have Gabe back on the podcast to discuss his recent book & movie deals, along with other aspects of his life as a writer. Have a listen if you’re interested in:


– Gabe’s advice for being resilient and overcoming rejection;

– What it’s like to get a huge book deal with a major publisher (& an equally huge movie deal!);

– The biggest writing lesson he learnt from finishing the Boone Shepard trilogy;

And loads more!

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Stitcher

Or click here to listen online

Show Notes:

16 – Boone Shepard – The Silhouette and the Sacrifice by Gabriel Bergmoser – Writing Awesome Endings

Gabe’s review of Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad

News about The Hunted and the film deal

Gabe’s twitter account:  https://twitter.com/gobergmoser 

For writing advice every weekday, check out my YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVjB-qFoNxNbQq0S3boWxIA?view_as=subscriber  

For free sci-fi & fantasy stories, and to stay updated with my writing projects, join my free newsletter:  https://jedherne.com/club/ 

Twitter: @jedherne

Email: jed.herne1@gmail.com

5 – Gabriel Bergmoser Interview – Windmills, Boone Shepard, Movie Maintenance, and Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

~ Jed Herne ~ 3 Comments

Today I’m changing things up from my normal analysis format by interviewing Gabe Bergmoser – one of my favourite Australian authors.

Gabe is the author of Boone Shepard, Boone Shepard’s American Adventure, and the forthcoming Boone Sheppard: The Silhouette and the Sacrifice. He’s also a prolific playwright, winner of the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award, host of Movie Maintenance, and contributor to Movie Maintenance Presents.

In this far-ranging interview, we talk about:

  • how he’s evolved alongside his Ustinov-winning Windmills
  • his feelings towards his soon-to-be-completed Boone Shepard trilogy
  • how he approaches writing, and what his experience has taught him
  • what it takes to create engaging writing-related podcasts
  • Red Dragon by Thomas Harris (and we dive deep into analysing this fantastic book)

Enjoy!

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Stitcher

Or click here to listen online

***

Twitter: @JedHerne

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Gabe’s top books for writers:

(note: this post may have affiliate links – using them will give me a tiny bit of money, letting you support my work at no extra cost to you!)

Harry Potter (I covered The Half-Blood Prince in episode 3)

Red Dragon

The Book of Joe

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Tommorrow, When the War Began

On the Road

A Song of Ice and Fire

The Name of the Wind (I covered this in episode 1)